Nowhere to run for Jenner Classic

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, April 17, 1997

Now that the Bruce Jenner Classic has been canceled for 1997, Michael Johnson will have to find another place to run on May 18.

Johnson, the world's fastest man over 200 and 400 meters, had planned to use the meet at San Jose City College to sharpen his speed in preparation for his June 1 match race with Canada's Donovan Bailey at 150 meters.

But with Wednesday's announcement that the Jenner meet will not be held next month for lack of a title sponsor, Johnson will have to run elsewhere that weekend. A likely spot is Eugene, Ore., and the Oregon Twilight Meet on May 17.

"It's sad. It doesn't speak very well for track and field in the U.S.," said the meet's namesake, Bruce Jenner.

"Tiger Woods has a lot of places to play golf, but Michael Johnson doesn't have a place to run. That's a shame. He would have come to our meet. It hurts our sport. We keep slipping further and further behind."

Meet director Bert Bonanno said that without $150,000 from a title sponsor, the Grand Prix event could not be held. The Jenner meet had been a fixture at San Jose City College since 1976 with such sponsors as Anheuser Busch, Minolta, Kodak, Coca-Cola and Symantec. The meet had been without a major sponsor since 1995, when its status was downgraded to Grand Prix II.

"There aren't many rocks that haven't been turned over in the last two weeks," Bonanno said. "We have been rejected by so many places."

Despite hiring an event management and promotions company, Matthews Communications Media of Oakland, to find a sponsor, the search was futile. Rejections came from Cellular One, Chevron, PowerBar, Adobe and NASDAQ, among others.

Neither USA Track and Field, governing body for the sport in this country, nor the International Amateur Athletic Federation, offered any help to save the meet.

"Will track and field turn around in the future?" Jenner wondered. "I sure hope so. It's going to take an awful lot of work. The sport has lost so much momentum to football, baseball, basketball and now golf. You're playing catch-up for media dollars. You are competing more for sports fans."

Some of the world's top track and field athletes competed at the Jenner meet the last two decades, including Johnson, Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Randy Barnes, Brian Oldfield, Sergei Bubka and Renaldo Nehemiah. It was Nehemiah who gave the meet its only world record, a 13.16 time in the 110-meter high hurdles in 1979.

"It's unfortunate," Jenner said from his home in Southern California. "The athletes lose another venue. The Pre meet (in Eugene) is the only (Grand Prix) one left and that's because Nike sponsors it."

Asked what he planned to do next, Jenner said, "Drop back 15 yards and punt. We're going to stay in it. We'll try to keep it going. The South Bay has supported the meet over the years. Track and field needs it."

This year at least, the distinctive blue track at San Jose City College will be absent of world class athletes.&lt;